Gottlieb family and children in Minnesota, 1870-1940
• Subject: MINNEAPOLIS MAP IN PDF
• From: "Ron Haack" <cookierhh@verizon.net >
To: "John Burke Truher" <
truher@earthlink.net >,
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2005 16:51:32 -0500Minneapolis City Map, Truher-Haack-Frank terrain 1875-1950s

Hi, Cousins,

Handy little family research tool at:

http://www.mplib.org/history/streets.pdf

From the Minneapolis Public Library, this is a very late model street map of Minneapolis, in color. Big enough so that you can zoom into your old home sites very nicely.

For example, Snelling Avenue comes up a lot in the Haack/Zadach history. The trick is to locate Lake Street (east-west), lower 1/3 of map, scroll over from the vertical center toward the Mississippi until you see the slanted Hiawatha and Minnehaha streets, and there, right between them and touching Lake street, is Snelling Avenue, birthplace of my dad Herb Haack and a lot more!

Off Lake street a bit further west is the Cedar and Lake intersection, heart of old Haack/Zadach/Truher, etc. land. 18th Avenue South is one block west of Cedar Avenue. Homesteads of the Haacks and Zadachs are in that area, as well as the home of Bill and Tillie Frank (where Caroline Pein Truher died). The burial site of many of our clanspeople is further west along Lake street until you get to Hennepin Avenue, then south on Hennepin until it dead ends in Lakewood Cemetery.

Ron Haack
cookierhh@verizon.net
• Lietzau European family can lead to finding Truher European origins
• because the Lietzau line may be traceable in location, to a particular European village. Florentine Lietzau-Truher (b. 1812) - married Martin Truher and then Mr. Johann Lietzau, Sr. , but surviving children by both, and many living descendants.
• data sheet 1: rhhimage
• data sheet 2 rhhimage
• data sheet 3 imagerhh
• Truher, Caroline Pein (Gottlieb's wife) on right of next photo, shown catering to a wealthy family,
• or perhaps helping out at a large family friend's reception.

https://gene.truher.net/truher/GottliebCaroline/CarolinePeinTruher-wRelatives.jpg
• Truher, Caroline Pein. Here is a web version photo of Caroline Pein at right perhaps helping with food services at a Haack family wedding, or serving at a wealthy family event.
We have also online in the same folder a picture of elderly immigrant Caroline Pein Truher, Gottlieb's wife, at high resolution
same url:

https://truher.net/gene/truher/GottliebCaroline/CarolinePeinTruher-wRelatives.jpg
•  Truher's, Caroline Pein obituary from the Minneapolis newpapers, December, 1928:
•  Caroline's Obituary newpaper article text: "Services Saturday For Mrs. Truher"

"Funeral services for Mrs. Caroline Truher, 90 years old,
cousin of General Von Kluck, wartime marshal of the German Imperial army, will be conducted Saturday at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Willam Frank, 2921 Eighteenth avenue S., at 2 p.m.

"Mrs. Truher was born in Germany in 1838 and came to this country 58 years ago. She moved to Minneapolis 37 years ago. She is survived by two daughters, Mrs. Frank and Mrs. William haack of Minneapolis; two sons, C. E. F(T)ruher, Dubuque, Iowa, and A. L. F(T)ruher of Seattle; 10 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

"Further services will be conducted at the Anderson chapel, 1117 East Lake street at 2:30 p.m.. Burial will take place in Lakewood cemetery."
•  ‘you dumb kluck.’ "Von Kluck is the inspiration for the expression. He is blamed for having departed from the Schlieffen Plan which Germany followed in its attack on France in 1914."

By Bill Bonner

09/02/02 A DR Classique,
first run on this date 2 years ago…

At some point, things will change. They always do. In the markets. In public attitudes. In art, architecture and P/E ratios. Confidence, optimism and self-esteem – at epic highs in America today – will someday, somehow give way. One day, believe it or not, merchants will be reluctant to take dollars. But when?
I missed Francis Fukuyama’s piece in the Wall Street Journal. On New Year’s Eve, he wrote proposing an alternative to TIME’s Man of the Century: Albert Einstein.

Fukuyama nominated WWI German Gen. Alexander von Kluck.
Inadvertently, and perhaps there is no other way, von Kluck changed the course of history. He brought Western Civilization to "the tipping point."

Von Kluck is the inspiration for the expression ‘you dumb kluck.’ He is blamed for having departed from the Schlieffen Plan which Germany followed in its attack on France in 1914.
I have told the story before, from the French perspective. From the German perspective it is not such a happy tale.
Seeing the French army in full retreat before him, von Kluck came to a conclusion that proved too optimistic. He thought the French were nearly beaten. Diverting his troops from the strategic objective – Paris – he decided instead to follow the retreating French troops in order to crush them.
Many German officers questioned the decision. If French troops were really close to giving up, more of them would be surrendering. But there were few prisoners – suggesting that the French still had the will to fight…and that they were merely retreating in good order.
But von Kluck had his way. And the old French warhorse, Galieni, saw his error almost immediately. "Gentlemen," he is supposed to have said to his colleagues, "they offer us their flank." Diverting his troops from the plan, von Kluck had opened a 30-mile gap between his 1st Army and von Bulow’s 2nd Army. He exposed them both to counterattack. The French took advantage of it. They commandeered 600 Paris taxi-cabs to take troops to the front. The battle of the Marne had begun, which after a half a million casualties, brought an end to the German advance.
What would have happened if von Kluck has kept to the plan? Fukuyama speculates, via Ray DeVoe:
* The Germans [would have] swept on to Paris by the end of September, forcing a capitulation by the French government (which occurred in 1870-71 and again in 1940).
* "A quick German victory would have left unimpaired the cultural self-confidence of 19th-century European civilization."
* "The 8.5 million casualties of WWI would not have spawned a radical revolutionary movement in Russia called Bolshevism" – and then Communism.
* With no German military humiliation there would have been no market for rabble-rousers such as Hitler – and no National Socialism.
Mr. Fukuyama states: "there’s more"-
* No Russian Revolution * No Cold War * No Nazism, no World War II, no Holocaust * No Chinese or Vietnamese revolutions
"And the U.S. which came of age as a great power due to the world wars, may have remained the isolationist paradise fondly remembered by Patrick Buchanan," according to the author.
Ray DeVoe refers to von Kluck’s decision as a "tipping point" as defined by Malcolm Gladwell in his book, "Tipping Points." A tipping point, Gladwell says, does not only come after a meal or at the end of taxi ride; instead it is "that one dramatic moment when everything can change all at once." "Tipping points" can be very small things – with very large effects. Also, when changes occur, they often happen all of a sudden
• Kluck_Alexander: is not established by any documentation as a relative of Caroline Pein Truher. Caroline's assertion was repeated, orally, but infrequently. It could be simply a statement of ethnic pride, invented by Caroline. What follows is by Jack Truher in an email 2010-05-19.

Subject: Alexander von Kluck of WW1 YOU DUMB KLUCK
From: Jack Truher
Date: Wed, 19 May 2010 12:39:04 -0700
To: Jim Truher , Michael Truher

Pride goeth before the fall.
You may remember that the Truhers made a genetic claim to a cousin in German General Alexander von Kluck of WW1.  I've learned a bit more, prompted by a story on the German interest in a united states of Europe, something that von Kluck was interested in, using different language.
"Von Kluck is the inspiration for the expression ‘you dumb kluck.’ He is blamed for having departed from the Schlieffen Plan which Germany followed in its attack on France in 1914."
In the retellings of this connection, the "dumb kluck" darivation was missing.  I doubt if Dad knew it.  He would have enjoyed it.
http://dailyreckoning.com/the-tipping-point-2    


• Charles Edward Truher's obituary, Minneapolis Star on Friday, September 28, 1951:
• Notes for CHARLES EDWARD TRUHER: Charlie and his wife, Kate Reed, were childless.

Charles Edward Truher's obituary, Minneapolis Star on Friday, September 28, 1951:

"Charles E. Truher, 81, of 5124 Thirty-fourth Avenue S., died Thursday.


"Charles E. Truher, 81, of 5124 Thirty-fourth Avenue S., died Thursday.

"A former policeman in Dubuque, Iowa, Mr. Truher is survived by two sisters, Mrs. Mathilda H. Frank and Mrs. Augusta A. Haack, both of Minneapolis.

"Services will be 10 a.m Saturday at Barney Anderson & Son chapel, with burial in Lakewood cemetery."

Notes by Ron Haack: "My Grandma Gussie Haack took me to see Charlie at a nursing home in Minneapolis in the summer of 1951, just before her train trip to Seattle to see her daughter Delilah. She told me that he was her brother, but not much else. He was in a pretty weak state but still wanted to put on his clothes and go to Seattle with Gussie. She just humoured him. That is all I know about Charlie E. Truher."

Jack can add about Charlie E. Truher, brother to August, Augusta, Mathildea Truher: My mother had a 5"x7" photo of Charlie in an album for many years. She said that Charlie was "very tall", leading me to think that he was perhaps 6' 6" tall. Ron Haack said he saw Charlie in a hospital bed and remembers him as a tall thin man. Jim2 saw Charlie in Seattle about 1942 (when Jim was 8 years old), and says that Charlies didn't seem as big as Jim1. Ron Haack's photo of Charlie Truher.
• Kate Reed was wife to Charlie Truher

Descendants of Kate Reed

Generation No. 1

1. KATE REED died December 09, 1938 in Dubuque, Dubuque County Iowa. She married CHARLES EDWARD TRUHER Before 1913 in Dubuque, Iowa, son of GOTTLIEB TRUHER and CAROLINE PEIN. He was born August 11, 1870 in Wisconsin, and died September 27, 1951 in Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota.

Notes for KATE REED:

From 1975 notes by Pat Schonborg:

"Mrs. Charles Truher, 37 Locust Street, died 12/9/1938 - graveside service at Mount Olivet Cemetery, (Dubuque, Iowa).

Attending Kate's funeral were:

Mr. and Mrs. Emmett Reed, Anamosa, Jones County Iowa, (brother)
John Harsely and Mrs. M. Yokum, Waterloo, Hawk County Iowa
Mrs. Al Bertsh, Sabula, Jackson County, Iowa
Mr. & Mrs. Sam Brien, Chicago, Illinois
Frank Hepman, Chicago, Illinois
F. Cooper, Chicago, Illinois"

More About KATE REED:

Burial: December 1938, Mount Olivet Cemetery, Dubuque, Dubuque County Iowa

Last Address: 1938, 37 Locust Street, Dubuque, Dubuque County Iowa
•  WWW on Gottlieb Truher, era 1875, name spelled Truhr
• The early records of St. Lucas Lutheran Church in Bay View, Wisconsin (era about 1875) show Gottlieb Truher's last name spelled "Truhr, no "e"". Caroline Truher's maiden name is spelled "Pein', several places.

Time line For Gottlieb & Caroline Truher:

November 21, 1832: Born, Danzig, Prussia (now Gdansk, Poland.

1859: Married, Danzig, Prussia.

July 08, 1870: Gottlieb Immigrated to USA via NYC, with August as infant (August - actually born in 1866 in Prussia). Aboard ship, Caroline was pregnant with Charles Edward.
• Gottlieb's farm home site in Wild Rice Township, western Minnesota -
• Ron Haack: On Wednesday afternoon, August 18, 1999, I met Ramona Weaver as she pulled into the Kraft Farm in Wild Rice Township, Norman County, and Minnesota. This is former farm of Gottlieb Truher in the 1880's. Ramona is the daughter of Mrs. Kraft, who died last year. We talked for over an hour. She showed me the Norman County History book with articles on the Pinske family (Ferdinand, Ernest, etc.). The front half of the current house may be original to the Truher era (no proof). I took three photos, two of the house and outbuildings, and one of Ramona. The current address of the farm is Ramona Weaver, 2162 390th Street, Gary, MN 56545.

Ramona showed me the burial site just South and adjacent of the Kraft-Truher farm, on the current Pinske farm, with a monument to Ernest Pinske and historical markers. Because of poor lighting conditions, I returned the next day and took some photos. Ramona gave me a name of Ervine Pinske, man with one arm, living just north of Trinity Lutheran Church in Twin Valley. I failed to connect with Ervine.

There is a little Lutheran Church on Minnesota 200, about one mile East of the Truher homestead; however, Ramona said it started in 1919 and then folded. Records were transferred to Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Manhomen, Minnesota.

The Norman County Recorder's office in Ada stated that Norman County split from Polk County in 1881, which explains the census of 1880 and 1885 differences. There is no record of land purchased by Gottlieb Truher in the Polk County Recorder Office in Crookston, Minnesota. It looks like he staked out the land, homesteaded it and got his land grant later.

When comparing the current Wild Rice and Fossum Township maps side by side, the current Truher farm (the Kraft farm) is in the northeast corner of Wild Rice Township, second section in from the East. Wild Rice Township's northern border is Minnesota Highway 200. The north-south frontal road past the Truher-Kraft farm is Norman County 41 (two miles West of the Wild Rice - Fossum townships border. On Minnesota 200, about four miles East of the Truher-Kraft farm and in Fossum Township lies another Pinske farm. It just may be that the 1880 Federal Census showing the Truher and Pinske clans in Fossum Township, Polk County, is no fluke! Then, again, the 1880 Census Taker may have erred, and the Truher and Pinske farms were ALWAYS in Wild Rice Township. We may never know for sure.
• Gottlieb Truher family, 1870-1901. from Ron Haack- ,
• The early records of St. Lucas Lutheran Church in Bay View, Wisconsin (era about 1875) show Gottlieb Truher's last name spelled "Truhr, no "e"". Caroline Truher's maiden name is spelled "Pein', several places.

Time line For Gottlieb & Caroline Truher:

November 21, 1832: Born, Danzig, Prussia (now Gdansk, Poland.

1859: Married, Danzig, Prussia.

July 08, 1870: Immigrated to USA via NYC, with August as infant (? - actually born in 1866 in Prussia). Caroline was pregnant with Charles Edward.

(From Filbey's "Germans to America", Volume 224, 1870:

From Germany to USA, Gottlieb Trur, age 38, Male, Farmer, Caroline Trur, age 32, Female, August Trur, age .11(eleven months, actually born in Prussia in 1866). Ship: Western Metropolis, from Swinemunde, Kiel and Christiansand to New York, arrived 08 July, 1870

From Jack Truher, Feb, 2000: "Now this begins to make sense. Of the three cities you list, two have somewhat different name adaptations. But this definitely begins to support the greater Berlin residency of the Trur family.

We can assume that the Filbey's entry probably means that the ship, Western Metropolis, began it's Western trip from Danzig. But it picked up the Trur family in Swineoujcscie (current Polish name for Swinemunde). Swineoujcscie is a shipping port, on the Baltic coast just at the border between Germany and modern Poland, about 50 miles north of Berlin. Then the ship traveled West to pick up additional passengers at Kiel, a major German port city on the Kiel Bay. In order to get out the Baltic Sea into the Atlantic, the ship must then travel north and then west. On the Southeast coast of Norway, the ship would have conveniently passed Kristiansand, another port where passengers boarded. Then on to New York.

The Danzig connection is: the ship's log would show that its journey began there. That association could be preserved in association with all passengers of that ship. I forget now how many sources have told us that Danzig was the Truher emigration point. I think there were other independent references of Danzig, but I can't name any of them, except the report I got from a German.")


August 11, 1870: Charles Edward was born in Wisconsin, probably Bay View. No Baptism record available as of 1999. Date verified per Confirmation Record at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Acoma Township, McLeod County Minnesota.

August 1872: Brother Jakob emigrates from Danzig, Prussia via Baltimore, Maryland and arrives in Bay View, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin sometime later to join Gottlieb.

Note: A picture was discovered in January of 2001 of the brothers Jakob and Gottlieb. The date is unknown, and could have been in the early 1870's in America, or in Germany before they emigrated.

January 22, 1873: Matheldie Helene (Aunt Till) born, Bay View, Wisconsin.

July 7, 1874: Herman Adolph and Julius Albert born, Bay View, Wisconsin.

July 21, 1874: Herman Adolph and Julius Albert die, Bay View, Wisconsin.

November 29, 1875: Gottlieb buys house on 156 Lenox Avenue, Bay View, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin (now 2370 and 2372 Lenox Avenue, Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, 2 houses).

January 14, 1876: Auguste (Gussie) Amelia born, Bay View, Wisconsin.

June 1876: Gottlieb's last recorded communion at St. Lucas Church, Bay View, Wisconsin.

Mid 1876 - Mid 1885: Reconstruction, best guess: Gottlieb and Caroline and family went to Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota sometime after mid 1876. Note: Caroline Lietzau married Gustave Pinske on June 11, 1876 in McLeod County Minnesota. On January 7, 1879, Caroline Pein Truher was a Godparent to their son Theodore Hermann at his baptism in Immanuel Lutheran Church, Acoma Township, McLeod County Minnesota.

The Truher family eventually migrated to Fossum Township, Polk County, Minnesota by 1880 (Federal Census) where they were shown as living either next door or on the same farm as Gustave and Caroline Pinske. The four children were also there, but Mother Florentine was NOT listed. (This part of Polk County became part of the new Norman County in 1881. Fossum Township is on the eastern border of Norman County, with Wild Rice Township adjacent and to the West).

Between 1880 and 1885, the family moved to Wild Rice Township, Norman County, Minnesota, where they staked and worked their farm. The 1885 special Minnesota State Census shows them in Wild Rice Township, Norman County, Minnesota, again either with the Gustave and Caroline Pinske family, or next door to it (see "Ron Haack", below). Just a short distance away was the Ernest and Johanna Pinske family farm. Again, the four Truher children (August, Charles, Matilde and Augusta are listed, but now Gottlieb's mother Florentine Truher is listed, age 79 and born in Germany.

June 4, 1885: Gottlieb and Caroline Truher sold his house at 156 Lenox Avenue, Bay View, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin to brother Jakob Truher for $700. Gottlieb and Caroline are listed as from the town of Wild Rice, Norman County, and Minnesota.

December 24, 1885: United States grants Gottlieb and Caroline their land in Norman County, Minnesota.

June 4, 1886: Gottlieb and Caroline get mortgage on above land from Hiram Upton.

1886: Some major catastrophic event descends upon the Truher family. See the notes on son August Louis Truher where he tells a story of death (?) and his mother Caroline coming down with typhoic fever, rendering her helpless and August forced to learn to cook, etc. Whatever the event, it caused the next several steps in the eventual migration of the Truher's to Minneapolis.

Note: In August of 2000, a Hennepin County Minnesota Probate Court document from the year 1900 was discovered which tells of the commitment of Gottlieb to the State Hospital for the Insane at St. Peter, Minnesota. Details below; however, it speaks of a lawsuit "with his brother" about the 1885 time period. Gottlieb never recovered from that episode. At this writing, there are no details about this lawsuit. During May and June of 2001, Ron Haack wrote letters to the Norman County Minnesota Clerk of Courts, and the Milwaukee County Historical Society (Wisconsin), asking for any information on such a law suit. In both cases, there is NO record of such a lawsuit, either for a Truher/Trur/Truhr as plaintiff or defendants.

September, 27,1886: Gottlieb and Caroline buy 525 Franklin, Hutchinson, and McLeod County, Minnesota. They are listed as from Hennepin County, Minnesota.

December 18, 1886: Gottlieb and Caroline assign land in Norman County, Minnesota to Phelps and Calkins, attorneys for Mr. Upton.

April 17, 1887: Son Charles Edward Truher confirmed at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Acoma Township, McLeod County Minnesota.

October 1888: Daughter Mathilda Truher confirmed at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Acoma Township, McLeod County Minnesota.

April 5, 1891: Daughter Auguste Amalie confirmed at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Acoma Township, McLeod County Minnesota.

April 11, 1891: Norman County, Minnesota sheriff forecloses Gottlieb and Caroline's Norman County land. They still owe $855.35 and they missed a $48 interest payment.

1891/1892: The Minneapolis City Directory lists August Truer, brakeman, as living at 313 10th Avenue North. No mention of the rest of the family.

1892/1893: The Minneapolis City Directory lists at 2932 18th Avenue South: August L. Truer, brakeman, Charles E., brakeman, Gottlieb, Susan (? -Augusta??), folder, Mpls Envelope Co., and Tillie, folder, Mpls. Envelope Co. The family had moved to Minneapolis. Minors and non-working women were not listed in city directories, thus the absence of Caroline.

Note: There is confusion about two addresses, 2930 and 2932 18th Avenue South. 2932 18th Avenue South MAY have become 2930 18th Avenue South by 1900. A Sanborn fire map of 1906 shows the house as 2932, THREE lots north of the east-west alley, just where 2930 stands today. Another possibility is that 2930 and 2932 are really the same house, just downstairs and upstairs. After 1900, 2932 is never mentioned again.

1893/1894: The Minneapolis City Directory now shows at 2932 18th Avenue South: August Truher, conductor, Charles E., brakeman and Gottlieb, but not the women.

November 7, 1894: Gottlieb and Caroline sell 525 Franklin, Hutchinson, and McLeod County, Minnesota.

1894/1895: The Minneapolis City Directory now shows at 2932 18th Avenue South: August Truher, Augusta, seamstress, Charles, brakeman, Gottlieb and Matilda, sewer.

June 1895: The special 1895 Minnesota State Census shows the following: At 2932 18th Avenue South (first floor assumed): Gottlieb Truher, age 65, Caroline, age 56, August, age 28, brakeman, Charles, age 24, brakeman and Gussie, age 19, seamstress.

At 2932 (2nd floor): William F. Frank, age 24, born in New York, Electrician and Matilda Frank, age 22 (Tillie Truher got married 1n 1893)!

At 2930 18th Avenue South (one house north of 2932, no longer there, or see Note above): Albert Frank, age 25, born in Minnesota, Expressman, Ida, age 28, born in Illinois and Sydney Frank, age 2, born in Minnesota (wife and son). It is assumed that Albert was William Franks's brother - verification is needed.

June 16, 1896: Auguste Amelia Truher (daughter) marries William Carl Haack in Minneapolis, Hennepin County, and Minnesota. They will live at 3036 Snelling Avenue South, Minneapolis, the home of Louis and Amelia Zadach (brother-in-law and sister of William). Louis' father Friederick Wilhelm Gotthilf Zadach and stepmother Florentine (Florence) lived next door at 3032 Snelling Avenue South, Minneapolis.

November 4, 1896: Son August L. Truher buys 2930 18th Avenue South (old 2932, see above), Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota for $2100 cash plus an assumed mortgage of $1500. (Note: same house only sold for about twice that amount in 1954). This was a 2 family duplex.

January 1, 1898: Grandson Herbert William Haack is born at 3036 Snelling Avenue South, Minneapolis.

Note: A picture was discovered in January of 2001 of Gottlieb and Caroline Truher with their daughter Augusta Truher Haack and their grandson Herbert William Haack. It is believed that the photo was made sometime in the summer of 1898. There is the possibility that the picture was taken in 1900 at 2930 18th Avenue South, and that the baby was their granddaughter, Delilah H. Haack.

November 27, 1899: Granddaughter Delilah Henrietta Haack is born at 3036 Snelling Avenue South, Minneapolis.

May 17, 1900: William Carl and Auguste Amelia Haack and their children Herbert William and Delilah Henrietta move into one part of the duplex at 2930 18th Avenue South, Minneapolis.

June 6, 1900: The 1900 Federal Census lists at 2930 18th Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minnesota: William C.Haack, born Nov 1873, cooper, Augusta A. Haack, born Jan, 1875, wife, Herbert, son, born Jan 1898, Delilah Haack, daughter, born Nov. 1899, Gottlieb Truher, born Nov 1831, married 36 years, immigrated 1871, 29 years in USA, not naturalized, retired, Caroline Truher (wife), born Aug 1837, mother of 9 children, 4 still living, August Truher, born Aug 1866 in Germany, not naturalized, railroad conductor. No Charles Edward! Also, William and Matilda Truher Frank had moved.
• Gottlieb Truher in Wild Rice township. Truher-Pinske country by Ron Haack, 1999.
• On Wednesday afternoon, August 18, 1999, I met Ramona Weaver as she pulled into the Kraft Farm in Wild Rice Township, Norman County, and Minnesota. This is former farm of Gottlieb Truher in the 1880's. Ramona is the daughter of Mrs. Kraft, who died last year. We talked for over an hour. She showed me the Norman County History book with articles on the Pinske family (Ferdinand, Ernest, etc.). The front half of the current house may be original to the Truher era (no proof). I took three photos, two of the house and outbuildings, and one of Ramona. The current address of the farm is Ramona Weaver, 2162 390th Street, Gary, MN 56545.

Ramona showed me the burial site just South and adjacent of the Kraft-Truher farm, on the current Pinske farm, with a monument to Ernest Pinske and historical markers. Because of poor lighting conditions, I returned the next day and took some photos. Ramona gave me a name of Ervine Pinske, man with one arm, living just north of Trinity Lutheran Church in Twin Valley. I failed to connect with Ervine.

There is a little Lutheran Church on Minnesota 200, about one mile East of the Truher homestead; however, Ramona said it started in 1919 and then folded. Records were transferred to Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Manhomen, Minnesota.

The Norman County Recorder's office in Ada stated that Norman County split from Polk County in 1881, which explains the census of 1880 and 1885 differences. There is no record of land purchased by Gottlieb Truher in the Polk County Recorder Office in Crookston, Minnesota. It looks like he staked out the land, homesteaded it and got his land grant later.

When comparing the current Wild Rice and Fossum Township maps side by side, the current Truher farm (the Kraft farm) is in the northeast corner of Wild Rice Township, second section in from the East. Wild Rice Township's northern border is Minnesota Highway 200. The north-south frontal road past the Truher-Kraft farm is Norman County 41 (two miles West of the Wild Rice - Fossum townships border. On Minnesota 200, about four miles East of the Truher-Kraft farm and in Fossum Township lies another Pinske farm. It just may be that the 1880 Federal Census showing the Truher and Pinske clans in Fossum Township, Polk County, is no fluke! Then, again, the 1880 Census Taker may have erred, and the Truher and Pinske farms were ALWAYS in Wild Rice Township. We may never know for sure.
• Truher-Frank-Haack families, Minneapolis, 1902 -1928, from Ron Haack -
• i.e. misc on August-Mathilda-Augusta families

March 10, 1902: August L. Truher (single) sells 2930 18th Avenue South, Minneapolis, to William Carl Haack (and wife Gussie, August's sister) for $1500 plus a mortgage assumption.

April 15, 1902: August converts to Roman Catholicism, changes his first name to Augustus and marries Helen Mary Nellie Barrett in the Church of St. Augustine, Austin, Mower County, Minnesota. He moves to Austin. It can only be imagined the profound affect on Caroline Pein Truher, his mother, who was a staunch Prussian Lutheran and sent August to only the best of Lutheran schools.

June 13, 1902: Grandson Harold Carl Haack is born at 2930 18th Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

December 5, 1904: Gottlieb dies in Minneapolis and was buried in Pioneer Cemetery, Cedar Avenue and Lake Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was exhumed in 1919 and re- buried in the new Haack/Truher plot in Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, Minnesota. (The Milwaukee Railroad appropriated part of Pioneer Cemetery in 1919).

July 24, 1912: Grandson Harold Carl Haack killed by streetcar on Lake Street in Minneapolis, Minnesota and was buried in Pioneer Cemetery, Cedar Avenue and Lake Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was exhumed in 1919 and re-buried along with Gottlieb Truher in the new Haack/Truher plot in Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

December 12, 1928: Caroline dies at 2921 18th Avenue South, the home of her daughter Matilda Truher Frank and her husband William L. (across the street and a few doors north of Gussie Truher Haack's home where Caroline had lived for many years). She is buried next to Gottlieb and Grandson Harold Carl Haack in Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis.

• on Gottlieb Truher's mental health diagnosis records.
• Ron Haack found record on Mental Health confinement of Gottlieb Truher, record of November 27, 1900:
• summary by Ron Haack

November 27, 1900: There is a commitment hearing in Minneapolis, and Gottlieb Truher is committed to the Minnesota State Hospital for the Insane at St. Peter. From the Certificate of Jury:

Gottlieb was not a member of a Church.

When were the first symptoms of this attack manifested, and in what way? Answer: Spring of 1886 after a law suit with brother, study and unusual interpretation of the Bible, excitable, etc.

Is the disease variable, ....? Answer: Yes. Variable in his moods and for a day or two seems rational. The predominant ideas recur at short intervals.

On what subject, or in what way is derangement now manifested? (State fully): Answer: Religiosity. Claims infidelity of wife and children. Outbursts of rage and temper towards family quotes Bible as his authority. The Bible tells him that he is to kill his wife and that the time is (to be ?) appointed.

Has the patient sown any disposition to injure others? Answer: Except (?) by frequent threats and claims that the time is coming when all should die.

What is supposed to be the cause of the disease? Answer: Worry over lawsuits in 1886.

The patient said (here state what the patient said to either or both examiners): Talked of his suspicions regarding his wife and family and his religious impressions(?). Excitable, talks loudly and boistrously.

Other facts: Suspicious of neighbors and threats of (?) violence. Is at times vulgar. Has frequently struck (?) his wife (?) insulted her.

Gottlieb was admitted to the State Hospital on November 27, 1900 and was discharged on July 29, 1901. There is no further mention of his mental problems, and no family stories about this episode.

[Jack Truher identifies Gottlieb's elderly state as Psychotic Depression]
• Michael Truher comments on Gottlieb mental health, and related experiences later in Truher family.
• `Subject: Gottlieb's Mental Health Crisis began with Property Dispute

To: Michael Truher <
truone@verizon.net >, jim@truher.com
From: Jack Truher <
truher@earthlink.net >
Subject: Re: Truher family history; 1870s onward

October 10, 2003

Michael wrote in response to Jack's email of October 1, 2003 (a collection
of information from Ron Haack's genealogy files on August Truher et al):

MBT: This is absolutely fascinating - but something occurred to me while
reading all this detail. you have the information in this data to do a
'forensic' analysis as to the nature of the Gottlieb lawsuit. take
Haack's time line analysis and you'll be able to plot who lived where,
when and with who. I'd bet money the lawsuit related to a real
property dispute on or about 1885. another clue is that I always
thought our own father was a little "weird" about his own sons 'stealing
his money' - when he had absolutely no evidence or reason to believe
so. this makes me believe that August (and/or someone else) maybe
somehow took over the affairs of Gottlieb at an early age - maybe on a
informal (for the time) conservatorship basis ? this led to the mental
problems which then led to 6 months in the nuthouse. remember at the
time the average life expectancy was something like 47 years.

JBT: Good observations, Michael. I'll respond here to your points.

MBT: This is absolutely fascinating - but something occurred to me while reading all this detail.

JBT: I'm delighted you found as interesting as I do, brother Michael. I'm trying to assemble such information and photo records into a more coherent whole. I know I will never be able to complete that task, but if I can get a skeleton in order with a representative collection, that will be fun for all of us. I can put all the unorganized data, plus emails like this on a CD. Then I can inventory the un-digitized records I have for eventual transmission to survivors. I intend to have an in-progress inventory on CD within a year. Then I can revise it was it becomes refined. I know the circumstances well enough now that I live in one foot in the 19th century.

Remember Michael, when we took that trip on the train around the USA with mother? I had asked to find any Truher's in the cities we visited, and she did go through the phone books. I don't recall the result. I think zero to minimal. She did that again for me by going through some library phone books of big cities sometime 1965-75, and found about five Truher surnames. I wrote to them all, and got a couple replies, which I still have. I wasn't serious. These were sporadic attempts.

The meanings of the recent discoveries to me are many and varied. First - has long been, why were were told so little about a segment of the Truher family that seems in retrospect to have been productive and sensible, particularly August's sisters' families? Perhaps because August and his sister's weren't told much because of the Gottlieb-Jakob tensions, and that Gottlieb-August tensions with his siblings? Sometimes tense relations just get to complicated to continue.

MBT: you have the information in this data to do a 'forensic' analysis as to the nature of the Gottlieb lawsuit. Take Haack's time line analysis and you'll be able to plot who lived where,
when and with who.


Yes, we have done that by inspection. Ron and I have had a periodic banter on the subject.

I'd bet money the lawsuit related to a real property dispute on or about 1885.

JBT: Yes again. And this is from memory. My best guess is that the dispute was between Gottlieb and his brother, Jacob, about the house the Jacob in Milwaukee "bought" from Gottlieb. Ron Haack has searched several municipal records with determination, trying to find any evidence on the point. I suspect that Gottlieb's paranoia was a factor, or his cognitive misunderstanding of contract law at the time, or perhaps a poorly written agreement. We know that Gottlieb lost the Minnesota farm, a substantial property because he was short only a few dollars payment. That would embitter anyone. Perhaps Gottlieb just asked for an advance on a payment schedule? Quite likely that Gottlieb and Jakob were in such dispute that they broke off relations. In all of Ron Haack's searching, Ron found no case that I am aware of when the Gottlieb line of the family were in contact with the Jakob line of the family.

MBT: another clue is that I always thought our own father was a little "weird"
about his own sons 'stealing his money' - when he had absolutely no evidence
or reason to believe so. this makes me believe that August (and/or someone else)
-- maybe somehow took over the affairs of Gottlieb at an early age - maybe on a
informal (for the time) conservatorship basis ?


JBT: We know that August was the conservator of record (though we don't have that word) for the document when August was the responsible family agent which committed Gottlieb for some months to the Minnesota institution for the insane. I have sent you those institutional records, though I doubt that you read them for this fact. I'll put them in order again on the web one of these days.

MBT: this led to the mental problems which then led to 6 months in the nuthouse.

JBT: Let's agree that the property dispute was correlated in the perceived grievances that Gottlieb cited during his state of Psychotic Depression.

MBT: Remember at the time the average life expectancy was something like 47 years.

JBT: Yes, but that was invariably because of infection or accident. People lived in good mental health then to very old age, perhaps not by much different percentages than today.
• by Jack Truher on the Danzig connection
(From Filbey's "Germans to America", Volume 224, 1870:

From Germany to USA, Gottlieb Trur, age 38, Male, Farmer, Caroline Trur, age 32, Female, August Trur, age .11(eleven months, actually born in Prussia in 1866). Ship: Western Metropolis, from Swinemunde, Kiel and Christiansand to New York, arrived 08 July, 1870

From Jack Truher, Feb, 2000: "Now this begins to make sense. Of the three cities you list, two have somewhat different name adaptations. But this definitely begins to support the greater Berlin residency of the Trur family.

We can assume that the Filbey's entry probably means that the ship, Western Metropolis, began it's Western trip from Danzig. But it picked up the Trur family in Swineoujcscie (current Polish name for Swinemunde). Swineoujcscie is a shipping port, on the Baltic coast just at the border between Germany and modern Poland, about 50 miles north of Berlin. Then the ship traveled West to pick up additional passengers at Kiel, a major German port city on the Kiel Bay. In order to get out the Baltic Sea into the Atlantic, the ship must then travel north and then west. On the Southeast coast of Norway, the ship would have conveniently passed Kristiansand, another port where passengers boarded. Then on to New York.

The Danzig connection is: the ship's log would show that its journey began there. That association could be preserved in association with all passengers of that ship. I forget now how many sources have told us that Danzig was the Truher emigration point. I think there were other independent references of Danzig, but I can't name any of them, except the report I got from a German information agency (copy available - Jack).")


• August Truher's first family home, Austin, Minn.

Ron Haack: In early August, 1999, I went to the Church of Saint Augustine, in Austin, Minnesota. where I met Father Nelson. He researched the marriage records of 1902 and confirmed the marriage date of April 15, 1902 for Augustus and Helen Truher. I then visited the Mower County Courthouse in Austin, where I found the location of the land and future home of Augustus and Helen, at the current address of 911 2nd Avenue, N.E., Austin, Minnesota. I have photos of the church and of the house.
• Star Car, initially August Truher's car from about the 1920s; text from a letter exchange between brothers JWT2 (Jim) and JBT (Jack) about 2002.

The Star Car of the 1920s

From Jack to Jim

It was color black, right? Do you remember dad tearing the components off to salvage the frame, and then building the trailer box? Who did the welding? Did you see the removed elements trucked away?From Jim (JWT2) to Jack (JBT)

For years the Star was stored in a small garage type shed some distance behind our house in Riverton Heights. I used to go back there just to look at it, up on blocks and rusting away. Jack was probably too small to go with me, cause I was around 6 or 7. It was black and very interesting, although covered with dust, cobwebs and junk all around in the shed.

It was color black, right? YES Do you remember dad tearing the components off to expose salvage the frame, and then building the trailer box? NO and IT WAS JUST A FLAT BED WITH METAL RETAINERS FOR INSERTION OF THE FOUR VERTICLE STAKE SIDES Who did the welding? DON'T KNOW Did you see the removed elements trucked away? AND NO.

Seems unlikely that grampa August Truher just bought it from a Dealer, since he didn't have an apparent need for it. $700 was a lot to leave rusting in garage. Maybe he "got a deal" on an abandoned shipment that had gone unpaid. Would be interesting if it were built in Michigan or San Leandro. I DON'T KNOW, BUT MY GUESS IS THAT HE BOUGHT IT USED IN 1923, USED IT FOR A FEW YEARS TILL IT WORE OUT,

Grampa August Truher never drove it after that first day, according to Pop.

PUT IT UP ON BLOCKS AND LEFT IT THERE UNTIL IT BECAME A TRAILER. I WAS IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE FIRST GRADE (6 YRS, 1941) WHEN I FIRST SAW IT AND WENT TO LOOK AT IT VARIOUS TIMES AFTER THAT WHEN WE STAYED IN THE HOUSE DAD BUILT THERE.

Here's where we can put our stories together. I remember pretty clearly that pop said that grampa August Truher bought it and drove it home from a dealer. That doesn't necessarily mean new car dealer. I had gathered the impression it was a new car dealer. Also that "the boys drove it" which is why I chose (wrongly) 1923 for the year of purchase; you recalled 1922. The tale that Pop told was that the salesman instructed grampa Truher about the basic operations, and that was all the "driver training" that grampa ever had. He was so tramatized by the ride home, he never drove the car again.

============================================


• COMPARE AGAIN BELOW : LOOK FOR DUPLICATION or UNIQUE LANGUAGE HERE
• dup?dup?jbt? notes on Gottlieb Truher by Ron Haack -- transferred by JBT may duplicate what is above
The early records of St. Lucas Lutheran Church in Bay View, Wisconsin (era about 1875) show Gottlieb Truher's last name spelled "Truhr, no "e"". Caroline Truher's maiden name is spelled "Pein', several places.


Time line For Gottlieb & Caroline Truher:


November 21, 1832: Born, Danzig, Prussia (now Gdansk, Poland.

1859: Married, Danzig, Prussia.

July 08, 1870: Immigrated to USA via NYC, with August as infant (? - actually born in 1866 in Prussia). Caroline was pregnant with Charles Edward.

(From Filbey's "Germans to America", Volume 224, 1870:

From Germany to USA, Gottlieb Trur, age 38, Male, Farmer, Caroline Trur, age 32, Female, August Trur, age .11(eleven months, actually born in Prussia in 1866). Ship: Western Metropolis, from Swinemunde, Kiel and Christiansand to New York, arrived 08 July, 1870

From Jack Truher, Feb, 2000: "Now this begins to make sense. Of the three cities you list, two have somewhat different name adaptations. But this definitely begins to support the greater Berlin residency of the Trur family.

We can assume that the Filbey's entry probably means that the ship, Western Metropolis, began it's Western trip from Danzig. But it picked up the Trur family in Swineoujcscie (current Polish name for Swinemunde). Swineoujcscie is a shipping port, on the Baltic coast just at the border between Germany and modern Poland, about 50 miles north of Berlin. Then the ship traveled West to pick up additional passengers at Kiel, a major German port city on the Kiel Bay. In order to get out the Baltic Sea into the Atlantic, the ship must then travel north and then west. On the Southeast coast of Norway, the ship would have conveniently passed Kristiansand, another port where passengers boarded. Then on to New York.

The Danzig connection is: the ship's log would show that its journey began there. That association could be preserved in association with all passengers of that ship. I forget now how many sources have told us that Danzig was the Truher emigration point. I think there were other independent references of Danzig, but I can't name any of them, except the report I got from a German.")


August 11, 1870: Charles Edward was born in Wisconsin, probably Bay View. No Baptism record available as of 1999. Date verified per Confirmation Record at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Acoma Township, McLeod County Minnesota.

August 1872: Brother Jakob emigrates from Danzig, Prussia via Baltimore, Maryland and arrives in Bay View, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin sometime later to join Gottlieb.

Note: A picture was discovered in January of 2001 of the brothers Jakob and Gottlieb. The date is unknown, and could have been in the early 1870's in America, or in Germany before they emigrated.

January 22, 1873: Matheldie Helene (Aunt Till) born, Bay View, Wisconsin.

July 7, 1874: Herman Adolph and Julius Albert born, Bay View, Wisconsin.

July 21, 1874: Herman Adolph and Julius Albert die, Bay View, Wisconsin.

November 29, 1875: Gottlieb buys house on 156 Lenox Avenue, Bay View, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin (now 2370 and 2372 Lenox Avenue, Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, 2 houses).

January 14, 1876: Auguste (Gussie) Amelia born, Bay View, Wisconsin.

June 1876: Gottlieb's last recorded communion at St. Lucas Church, Bay View, Wisconsin.

Mid 1876 - Mid 1885: Reconstruction, best guess: Gottlieb and Caroline and family went to Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota sometime after mid 1876. Note: Caroline Lietzau married Gustave Pinske on June 11, 1876 in McLeod County Minnesota. On January 7, 1879, Caroline Pein Truher was a Godparent to their son Theodore Hermann at his baptism in Immanuel Lutheran Church, Acoma Township, McLeod County Minnesota.

The Truher family eventually migrated to Fossum Township, Polk County, Minnesota by 1880 (Federal Census) where they were shown as living either next door or on the same farm as Gustave and Caroline Pinske. The four children were also there, but Mother Florentine was NOT listed. (This part of Polk County became part of the new Norman County in 1881. Fossum Township is on the eastern border of Norman County, with Wild Rice Township adjacent and to the West).

Between 1880 and 1885, the family moved to Wild Rice Township, Norman County, Minnesota, where they staked and worked their farm. The 1885 special Minnesota State Census shows them in Wild Rice Township, Norman County, Minnesota, again either with the Gustave and Caroline Pinske family, or next door to it (see "Ron Haack", below). Just a short distance away was the Ernest and Johanna Pinske family farm. Again, the four Truher children (August, Charles, Matilde and Augusta are listed, but now Gottlieb's mother Florentine Truher is listed, age 79 and born in Germany.

June 4, 1885: Gottlieb and Caroline Truher sold his house at 156 Lenox Avenue, Bay View, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin to brother Jakob Truher for $700. Gottlieb and Caroline are listed as from the town of Wild Rice, Norman County, and Minnesota.

December 24, 1885: United States grants Gottlieb and Caroline their land in Norman County, Minnesota.

June 4, 1886: Gottlieb and Caroline get mortgage on above land from Hiram Upton.

1886: Some major catastrophic event descends upon the Truher family. See the notes on son August Louis Truher where he tells a story of death (?) and his mother Caroline coming down with typhoic fever, rendering her helpless and August forced to learn to cook, etc. Whatever the event, it caused the next several steps in the eventual migration of the Truher's to Minneapolis.

Note: In August of 2000, a Hennepin County Minnesota Probate Court document from the year 1900 was discovered which tells of the commitment of Gottlieb to the State Hospital for the Insane at St. Peter, Minnesota. Details below; however, it speaks of a lawsuit "with his brother" about the 1885 time period. Gottlieb never recovered from that episode. At this writing, there are no details about this lawsuit. During May and June of 2001, Ron Haack wrote letters to the Norman County Minnesota Clerk of Courts, and the Milwaukee County Historical Society (Wisconsin), asking for any information on such a law suit. In both cases, there is NO record of such a lawsuit, either for a Truher/Trur/Truhr as plaintiff or defendants.

September, 27,1886: Gottlieb and Caroline buy 525 Franklin, Hutchinson, and McLeod County, Minnesota. They are listed as from Hennepin County, Minnesota.

December 18, 1886: Gottlieb and Caroline assign land in Norman County, Minnesota to Phelps and Calkins, attorneys for Mr. Upton.

April 17, 1887: Son Charles Edward Truher confirmed at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Acoma Township, McLeod County Minnesota.

October 1888: Daughter Mathilda Truher confirmed at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Acoma Township, McLeod County Minnesota.

April 5, 1891: Daughter Auguste Amalie confirmed at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Acoma Township, McLeod County Minnesota.

April 11, 1891: Norman County, Minnesota sheriff forecloses Gottlieb and Caroline's Norman County land. They still owe $855.35 and they missed a $48 interest payment.

1891/1892: The Minneapolis City Directory lists August Truer, brakeman, as living at 313 10th Avenue North. No mention of the rest of the family.

1892/1893: The Minneapolis City Directory lists at 2932 18th Avenue South: August L. Truer, brakeman, Charles E., brakeman, Gottlieb, Susan (? -Augusta??), folder, Mpls Envelope Co., and Tillie, folder, Mpls. Envelope Co. The family had moved to Minneapolis. Minors and non-working women were not listed in city directories, thus the absence of Caroline.

Note: There is confusion about two addresses, 2930 and 2932 18th Avenue South. 2932 18th Avenue South MAY have become 2930 18th Avenue South by 1900. A Sanborn fire map of 1906 shows the house as 2932, THREE lots north of the east-west alley, just where 2930 stands today. Another possibility is that 2930 and 2932 are really the same house, just downstairs and upstairs. After 1900, 2932 is never mentioned again.

1893/1894: The Minneapolis City Directory now shows at 2932 18th Avenue South: August Truher, conductor, Charles E., brakeman and Gottlieb, but not the women.

November 7, 1894: Gottlieb and Caroline sell 525 Franklin, Hutchinson, and McLeod County, Minnesota.

1894/1895: The Minneapolis City Directory now shows at 2932 18th Avenue South: August Truher, Augusta, seamstress, Charles, brakeman, Gottlieb and Matilda, sewer.

June 1895: The special 1895 Minnesota State Census shows the following: At 2932 18th Avenue South (first floor assumed): Gottlieb Truher, age 65, Caroline, age 56, August, age 28, brakeman, Charles, age 24, brakeman and Gussie, age 19, seamstress.

At 2932 (2nd floor): William F. Frank, age 24, born in New York, Electrician and Matilda Frank, age 22 (Tillie Truher got married 1n 1893)!

At 2930 18th Avenue South (one house north of 2932, no longer there, or see Note above): Albert Frank, age 25, born in Minnesota, Expressman, Ida, age 28, born in Illinois and Sydney Frank, age 2, born in Minnesota (wife and son). It is assumed that Albert was William Franks's brother - verification is needed.

June 16, 1896: Auguste Amelia Truher (daughter) marries William Carl Haack in Minneapolis, Hennepin County, and Minnesota. They will live at 3036 Snelling Avenue South, Minneapolis, the home of Louis and Amelia Zadach (brother-in-law and sister of William). Louis' father Friederick Wilhelm Gotthilf Zadach and stepmother Florentine (Florence) lived next door at 3032 Snelling Avenue South, Minneapolis.

November 4, 1896: Son August L. Truher buys 2930 18th Avenue South (old 2932, see above), Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota for $2100 cash plus an assumed mortgage of $1500. (Note: same house only sold for about twice that amount in 1954). This was a 2 family duplex.

January 1, 1898: Grandson Herbert William Haack is born at 3036 Snelling Avenue South, Minneapolis.

Note: A picture was discovered in January of 2001 of Gottlieb and Caroline Truher with their daughter Augusta Truher Haack and their grandson Herbert William Haack. It is believed that the photo was made sometime in the summer of 1898. There is the possibility that the picture was taken in 1900 at 2930 18th Avenue South, and that the baby was their granddaughter, Delilah H. Haack.

November 27, 1899: Granddaughter Delilah Henrietta Haack is born at 3036 Snelling Avenue South, Minneapolis.

May 17, 1900: William Carl and Auguste Amelia Haack and their children Herbert William and Delilah Henrietta move into one part of the duplex at 2930 18th Avenue South, Minneapolis.

June 6, 1900: The 1900 Federal Census lists at 2930 18th Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minnesota: William C.Haack, born Nov 1873, cooper, Augusta A. Haack, born Jan, 1875, wife, Herbert, son, born Jan 1898, Delilah Haack, daughter, born Nov. 1899, Gottlieb Truher, born Nov 1831, married 36 years, immigrated 1871, 29 years in USA, not naturalized, retired, Caroline Truher (wife), born Aug 1837, mother of 9 children, 4 still living, August Truher, born Aug 1866 in Germany, not naturalized, railroad conductor. No Charles Edward! Also, William and Matilda Truher Frank had moved.


November 27, 1900: There is a commitment hearing in Minneapolis, and Gottlieb Truher is committed to the Minnesota State Hospital for the Insane at St. Peter. From the Certificate of Jury:

Gottlieb was not a member of a Church.

When were the first symptoms of this attack manifested, and in what way? Answer: Spring of 1886 after a law suit with brother, study and unusual interpretation of the Bible, excitable, etc.

Is the disease variable, ....? Answer: Yes. Variable in his moods and for a day or two seems rational. The predominant ideas recur at short intervals.
On what subject, or in what way is derangement now manifested? (State fully): Answer: Religiosity. Claims infidelity of wife and children. Outbursts of rage and temper towards family quotes Bible as his authority. The Bible tells him that he is to kill his wife and that the time is (to be ?) appointed.

Has the patient sown any disposition to injure others? Answer: Except (?) by frequent threats and claims that the time is coming when all should die.

What is supposed to be the cause of the disease? Answer: Worry over lawsuits in 1886.

The patient said (here state what the patient said to either or both examiners): Talked of his suspicions regarding his wife and family and his religious impressions(?). Excitable, talks loudly and boistrously.

Other facts: Suspicious of neighbors and threats of (?) violence. Is at times vulgar. Has frequently struck (?) his wife (?) insulted her.

Gottlieb was admitted to the State Hospital on November 27, 1900 and was discharged on July 29, 1901. There is no further mention of his mental problems, and no family stories about this episode.



March 10, 1902: August L. Truher (single) sells 2930 18th Avenue South, Minneapolis, to William Carl Haack (and wife Gussie, August's sister) for $1500 plus a mortgage assumption.

April 15, 1902: August converts to Roman Catholicism, changes his first name to Augustus and marries Helen Mary Nellie Barrett in the Church of St. Augustine, Austin, Mower County, Minnesota. He moves to Austin. It can only be imagined the profound affect on Caroline Pein Truher, his mother, who was a staunch Prussian Lutheran and sent August to only the best of Lutheran schools.

June 13, 1902: Grandson Harold Carl Haack is born at 2930 18th Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

December 5, 1904: Gottlieb dies in Minneapolis and was buried in Pioneer Cemetery, Cedar Avenue and Lake Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was exhumed in 1919 and re- buried in the new Haack/Truher plot in Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, Minnesota. (The Milwaukee Railroad appropriated part of Pioneer Cemetery in 1919).

July 24, 1912: Grandson Harold Carl Haack killed by streetcar on Lake Street in Minneapolis, Minnesota and was buried in Pioneer Cemetery, Cedar Avenue and Lake Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was exhumed in 1919 and re-buried along with Gottlieb Truher in the new Haack/Truher plot in Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

December 12, 1928: Caroline dies at 2921 18th Avenue South, the home of her daughter Matilda Truher Frank and her husband William L. (across the street and a few doors north of Gussie Truher Haack's home where Caroline had lived for many years). She is buried next to Gottlieb and Grandson Harold Carl Haack in Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis.


Ron Haack: On Wednesday afternoon, August 18, 1999, I met Ramona Weaver as she pulled into the Kraft Farm in Wild Rice Township, Norman County, and Minnesota. This is former farm of Gottlieb Truher in the 1880's. Ramona is the daughter of Mrs. Kraft, who died last year. We talked for over an hour. She showed me the Norman County History book with articles on the Pinske family (Ferdinand, Ernest, etc.). The front half of the current house may be original to the Truher era (no proof). I took three photos, two of the house and outbuildings, and one of Ramona. The current address of the farm is Ramona Weaver, 2162 390th Street, Gary, MN 56545.

Ramona showed me the burial site just South and adjacent of the Kraft-Truher farm, on the current Pinske farm, with a monument to Ernest Pinske and historical markers. Because of poor lighting conditions, I returned the next day and took some photos. Ramona gave me a name of Ervine Pinske, man with one arm, living just north of Trinity Lutheran Church in Twin Valley. I failed to connect with Ervine.

There is a little Lutheran Church on Minnesota 200, about one mile East of the Truher homestead; however, Ramona said it started in 1919 and then folded. Records were transferred to Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Manhomen, Minnesota.

The Norman County Recorder's office in Ada stated that Norman County split from Polk County in 1881, which explains the census of 1880 and 1885 differences. There is no record of land purchased by Gottlieb Truher in the Polk County Recorder Office in Crookston, Minnesota. It looks like he staked out the land, homesteaded it and got his land grant later.

When comparing the current Wild Rice and Fossum Township maps side by side, the current Truher farm (the Kraft farm) is in the northeast corner of Wild Rice Township, second section in from the East. Wild Rice Township's northern border is Minnesota Highway 200. The north-south frontal road past the Truher-Kraft farm is Norman County 41 (two miles West of the Wild Rice - Fossum townships border. On Minnesota 200, about four miles East of the Truher-Kraft farm and in Fossum Township lies another Pinske farm. It just may be that the 1880 Federal Census showing the Truher and Pinske clans in Fossum Township, Polk County, is no fluke! Then, again, the 1880 Census Taker may have erred, and the Truher and Pinske farms were ALWAYS in Wild Rice Township. We may never know for sure.